Infant dies after catching cold at Shaheen Bagh, mother to return for protest
New Delhi, Feb 3: Four-month-old Mohammed Jahaan accompanied his mother almost everyday to the Shaheen Bagh demonstration where he was a favourite with the protesters who would take turns to hold him and often draw the tricolour on his cheeks.
But Jahaan will not be seen at Shaheen Bagh anymore. He died last week after acquiring a severe cold and congestion following exposure to the winter chill at the outdoor demonstration. His mother is, however, undeterred and determined to participate in the protests, saying it is "for the future of my children".
The infant's shattered parents, Mohammed Arif and Nazia, live in a tiny shanty put together with plastic sheets and cloth in Batla House area and have two other children -- a five-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son.
Hailing from Bareilly in UP, the couple is barely able to make ends meet. Arif is an embroidery worker and also drives an e-rickshaw. His wife helps him in his embroidery work.
"I haven't been able to earn enough in the last month despite driving the battery rickshaw in addition to my embroidery work. Now with our baby's demise, we have lost everything," he said, showing a picture of little Jahaan wearing a woolen cap that read 'I Love My India'.
A visibly disturbed Nazia said Jahaan passed away in his sleep on night of January 30 after returning from the protests.
"I had returned from Shaheen Baag at around 1 AM. After putting him and other kids to sleep, even I went to sleep. In the morning, I suddenly found him motionless. He was gone in his sleep," she said.
The couple took their motionless baby to the nearby Alshifa Hospital on the morning of January 31 where he was declared dead on arrival.
Nazia, who had been visiting the Shaheen Bagh demonstration everyday with Jahaan since December 18, says that he died after catching a cold that turned lethal.
She said she didn't realise that his congestion was so severe. However, the doctors in the baby's death certificate have not mentioned any specific reason for the death.
Shazia, a neighbour who was present at the couple's home, said Nazia had fought with her mother and husband to visit Shaheen Bagh everyday. Nazia would gather all women in the bylane outside her house so that they could together walk to the demonstration, around 2 km away. Sometimes, Arif would drop some of them to Shaheen Bagh on his e-rickshaw.
Nazia said she strongly feels that the CAA and NRC are against the welfare of all communities and will join the Shaheen Bagh protests, but this time without her children.
"Why was I doing this? For my children and the children of all us who need a bright future in this country," she told PTI.
"The CAA divides us on religion and should never be accepted. I don't know if there is politics involved but I know that I must question what is against the future of my children."
Arif, however, blamed the NRC and CAA for his child's death.
"Had the government not brought CAA and NRC, people would not have protested and my wife would not have joined them, my son would have been alive," he said.
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Absconding accused with 35 warrants held at Mangaluru airport
Mangaluru: A man against whom 35 arrest warrants had been issued for failing to appear before court was arrested at Mangaluru International Airport upon his arrival from abroad.
The accused, identified as Abbas G, a resident of Peruvai in Bantwal, was wanted in connection with a case registered at Vital Police Station under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons), 504 (provoke with intention of breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt using weapons), and 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) read with 149 of the Indian Penal Code.
Abbas had repeatedly failed to appear before the court for trial and had been absconding abroad for a prolonged period.
Acting on specific information about his return, immigration authorities alerted the police, following which a team from Vital Police Station apprehended him at the airport.
The operation was carried out by Head Constable Mohan and Police Constables Venkappa.
He was subsequently produced before the jurisdictional court, which remanded him in judicial custody.
